How you start your day is a key indicator of how it will unfold.
While being the most efficient version of yourself can mean different things to different people, there's universal agreement on the fact that your daily habits are what will make the biggest difference in your life and business.
If you often find yourself feeling like you want to have better days, looking at what you're doing in the morning is a good place to focus.
Get started with these four tips to get more done in the morning:
1. Have a morning routine. Wake up at the same time every day. Avoid hitting the snooze button. When the alarm goes off, get out of bed before turning it off. A trick I use is to put the alarm across the room, that way I have to get up and walk to it to turn it off.
2. Avoid getting distracted by your phone. You don’t want to keep receiving notifications or be distracted by social media. If your phone has the feature to freeze your apps, use it. You might have a lot of things you need on your phone, but you also have other things you can do without your phone.
3. Do as much as you can the night before. To make the morning as simple as possible, pick out your clothes, pack your bag, and write your priorities for the next day. Be realistic with the time you need to get things done in the morning. Have a detailed list of things to do.
4. Have an accountability partner. Find a friend who is as excited about being more productive in the morning and a partner who has the same fundamental goals as you. Exchange your list of priorities with them.
It’s hard to do things when we don’t know why we’re doing them. Keep your goals in front of you always. Remove distractions so you can stay focused. Do things even when they’re hard - it will get easier as you continue to build your routines and habits.
Staying productive is all about building momentum. The more stuff you get done, the more motivated you are to do more.
There are no shortcuts to success and productivity. But giving yourself the gift of a strong start in the morning will certainly set you up for a better day.